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Friday, November 1, 2013

Fun Facts Friday- Autumn

1. When fall approaches, the green-colored food-making chlorophyll of plants is no longer needed, which is what leaves us with the other colors that had been overpowered all summer long: Beautiful reds, oranges, yellows, and even purples!!2. The pumpkin was first named by people in Greece, who called this orange edible a pepon, which means "large melon".3. In addition to the brilliant colors of fall leaves, the autumn equinox signals another colorful spectacle the aurora borealis, also called the Northern Lights.

4. The pumpkin is a member of the gourd family, which is native to the Western Hemisphere. There is evidence to support that the natives of Mexico were eating gourds as early as 5500 BC.5. Due to cooler temperatures you are naturally more likely to fall in love.6. Indian Summer, this is when there is a heat wave in autumn which usually occurs between late September and mid November.

7. The smell of pumpkin pie is a natural aphrodisiac.8. Pumpkins were once used to remove freckles and cure snake bites. 9. In Greek mythology it is said that in autumn Persephone (Goddess of Spring, daughter of Zeus and the Harvest-Goddess Demeter) rejoins Hades in the underworld as his queen.10. Red and purple leaves are actually caused by the presence of sugars from sap that is trapped inside of the leaves.

I love the Fall gourds. I usually lump pumpkin in with the winter squashes, but I also love those small "decorative" gourds. The gorgeous Fall colors are wonderful to me. I lived most of my life in Houston where it mostly stays green.

I love these facts! Pumpkins have a lot of good medicinal values. According to Wikipedia, "two compounds isolated from pumpkin paste and then fed daily to diabetic rats over six weeks, trigonelline and nicotinic acid, caused significant reductions in blood glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides, indicating improvement in the diabetic condition." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin Healthy stuff here! Let's hear it for pumpkins!